The ancient and medieval architecture of India: a study of Indo-Aryan civilisation

96 VISHNU

SHRINES AT SARNATH

I must leave others to enlarge upon theinferencestobe

drawnfromtheappearanceofAryanVishnu,andSivasymbols,

ortheirprototypes,

intheroyal

tombsofNineveh intheeighth

century

B.C. The most significant

point to be noticed is

that

the juxtapositionofVishnu's sikhara and Siva'ssttipa, orthe

symbols

ofLifeandDeath,isexactly

whatoccurredsofrequently

in ancient

and medieval India. Fergusson's

description

of

the former

as

"

Hindu and

Indo-Aryan

"

and ofthe latter

as

"

Buddhist

and Dravidian

"

notonlymisledhimself, butgave

toothers

entirelyfalse clues to the historyand chronologyof

Indian

art.

Theearliest IndianVishnushrines yetdiscovered arethe

monolithic

onescarved inminiaturewhichhavebeendugupin

great

quantities on the site of Sarnath, the DeerPark

where

the Buddha

preachedthe Lawtohisfirstdisciples,and

alsoat

Bodh-Gaya. They

are found together with vast

numbers of

miniature stllpas,

many ofwhichare probably

ofgreaterage,

asthe stiipawasthemost

sacredemblem ofthe

firstdisciples

ofthe Buddha.

Butjust as at the present

day Hinduswill

oftenworshipat Muhammadan

shrinesof

greatsanctityjsoin

early

Buddhist times manywho

belonged to

otherschoolsof

thought

broughttheirpiousofferings

tothe shrines

ofSikiya

Muni. Then

Buddhismseems

tohavegradually

adoptedthe

Vishnu

symbolas adistinctive mark

oftheMahayina

school.

Fig.

41

is

atypical specimen

ofthe Vishnu

symbolsdug

upatSarnath: it

hasan imageof

Gan^shacarved

upon it.

It

is crowned by

the amalaka

;

the

finial,water-pot,

orkalasha,

ismissinginmost
cases. Itwas
probablycarved
ina
separate

piece and perhaps in
a different
material.
Like all
Vishnu

shrines, the sides
of the sikhara
are ornamented
with
sun-

windows

Vishnu

watches forthe

approach

ofhis

lovelybride

Lakshmi, or Sri,who
is Ushas,
theVedic
Dawn-maiden.

The

identityof

Lakshmiwith

Ushas,

I venture

toassert.